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Feng Iwei
To cite this article: Feng Iwei (1991) Atmospheric corrosion of carbon steels and weathering
steels in Taiwan, British Corrosion Journal, 26:3, 209-214, DOI: 10.1179/000705991798269215
Article views: 18
Download by: [Monash University Library] Date: 11 June 2016, At: 21:33
Atmospheric corrosion of carbon steels and weathering
steels in Taiwan
FENG-IWEI The corrosion performance of carbon steels AS1M A36 and JIS SS41 and weathering
steels AS1M A588 Grade Band J IS SP AH (Acr- Ten A) were studied after exposure for
several periods up to 8 years in three atmospheric environments in Taiwan. The results are
in agreement with kinetic equations of the form C = AtB, where C is the corrosion loss, t is
time, and A and B are constants. The weathering steels have better corrosion resistance
than carbon steels, especially in an industrial coastal area, and a marked decrease in the
corrosion rate is observed when the weathering steel contains high phosphorus. However,
the rating of corrosion resistance of weathering steels relative to carbon steels does not
conform to the specification AS1M A242-87. These results, correlated with the compos-
ition and the structure of the rust as well as with environmental factors, are examined mid
discussed.
Manuscript received 2 March 1990; infinalform 14 November 1990. The author is 'in the
Research and Development Department, China Steel Corp., Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
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Phosphorus content, wt-% EBNational Tsing-Hua University in Hsinchu; 0 National Sun Yat-
Sen University near Kaohsiung Harbour; 0 China Steel Corp. in Hsiao
Effect of phosphorus content on atmospheric corrosion rate of Kang Industrial District
steel after 3 years' exposure at China Steel Corp. 2 Location of exposure sites in Taiwan
corrosion products and their metal loss was determined different materials, but in the rural-urban area the initial
by comparing the weights before and after the exposure. corrosion rate was quite high. This ~eems to be due to its
Other specimens were examined in situ, i.e. without windy and rainy climate. Additionally, in an industrial
stripping the rust, in surface and cross-section by various environment, the phosphorus containing weathering steel
electron optical techniques, particularly analytical scanning Acr-Ten A shows a high atmospheric corrosion resistance
electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), in the initial stage. In contrast, the exponent B reflects the
electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and infrared change of corrosion loss with time. In these tests, the
spectroscopy (IR). values of B for weathering steels are close to 0·5 which
Owing to the influence of climatic parameters on means that an adherent rust layer was formed at the
atmospheric corrosion, the climatic charac~eristics and the surface and acted as a diffusion barrier.
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main environmental parameters measured are listed in From equation (2), Townsend and Zoccola 15 have
Table 2. The Cl- and S02 were collected by the wet candle developed and applied relationships to compare quantita-
methodll,12 and lead peroxide candle method (ASTM tively the corrosion resistance of steels on the basis of the
D2010) respectively. The former were analysed by the ratio of times required to achieve a particular loss of
atomic absorption spectrometer and potential titration. thickness. A loss of 250 Jlm was selected to calculate the
time
RESULTS t* =(C* IA)I/B
Corrosion loss where t* is the time in months to achieve 250 !..lmcorrosion
Several workersl3-15 have reviewed three general methods loss. C * is the corrosion loss selected (250 ~m) and A and
of calculating the corrosion rate of weathering steels. The B are constants of the rate equation, as given in Table 3.
method of estimated exposure time for a given corrosion The times required to achieve 250 J.lmcorrosion loss and
loss to occur has been widely used since it was proposed the ratio of these times for the experimental steels are
by Townsend and Zoccola 15using linear regression analysis given in Table 4 which shows that the weathering steels,
to fit a straight line on a log-log plot of corrosion loss v. especially the high phosphorus containing steel (Acr-Ten
time. A), have better corrosion resistance than carbon steels.
Results of the present corrosion tests show that the However, these results cannot meet the ASTM A242-87
corrosion resistance of steels can be ranked as follows: specification, which indicates that A242 type (rephosphor-
Acr-Ten A> A588 > A36 ~ SS41. The corrosion of each ised weathering) steels have enhanced atmospheric cor-
steel is described by the equation, rosion resistance of approximately four times that of carbon
log C=log A+B log t (1)
structural steels without copper, although the specification
or does not provide a means of comparing the corrosion
resistance, as has been discussed by Komp.14 However,
C=AtB (2)
Shastry et al.16 have shown that the weathering steels have
where C is the corrosion loss (~m), t is the time (months), much better corrosion resistance than carbon steels. This
and A and B are constants. These constants obtained by suggests that the environments of the present tests in
linear regression analysis along with the square of the Taiwan are severer than those of Shastry et al. in the USA
associated correlation coefficient (R2) are summarised in although no detailed environmental conditions at their
Table 3 which indicates that over 93°A>(R2) of the changes chosen test sites are given. In addition, Table 4 apparently
with time are accounted for by the kinetic equations in shows that the corrosion resistance of A588 is only slightly
each environment. From equation (2), it is clear that A is better than that of A36 in the coastal site. It reveals that
numerically equivalent to the corrosion loss when time is the phosphorus free weathering steel is inadequate for use
unity. Therefore, A is generally considered as a measure of in the coastal environment and also that weathering steels
the initial reactivity of the material with the environment. have greater relative durability than carbon steels in the
Table 3 reveals no general trend for values of A among industrial environment.
China Steel Corp. 8·05 0·745 0·943 15,66 0·483 0·930 7·57 0·724 0·982 4·79 0·64 0·990
Sun Vat-Sen University 10·25 0·575 0·979 8·57 0·575 0·993 7·73 0·689 0·997 8·18 0,564 0·991
Tsing-Hua University 14·28 0·587 0·975 14·51 0-482 0·932
Rust composition and structure side (with face to the sunlight) of the test panels. However,
The surface appearance of weathering steels gradually in carbon steels, most of the rust layers contain voids and
changed to dark red; thereafter, the corrosion rate decreased microcracks which penetrate from the outside of the rust
remarkably. It is thought that, in this state, a protective into the steel substrate (Fig. 7b), and no continuous
and stable rust layer has developed on the steel surface. optically isotropic layer could be observed.
This change depends on the environmental condition. In The compositions of rust were analysed by X-ray
the present study, a stable rust ,layer developed more diffraction using the Debye-Scherrer method and IR. The
rapidly in the windy rural-urban site (after about 0·5 years) inner rust layer on weathering steels was composed of
than in industrial-coastal (2'5-3 years) and coastal (2·5-3 amorphous ferric oxyhydroxide and some y-FeOOH,
years) sites. However, the surface of carbon steels is always tX-FeOOH, and c5-FeOOH, while the outer layer was
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red or brown red. In addition, the rust layer on the back composed of y-FeOOH, tX-FeOOH, and some Fe304 and
face is thicker, rougher, and redder than that on the front a-Fe203' Early in the testing period, the y-FeOOH is
face in all steels. present in larger amounts than the tX-FeOOH, but sub-
After exposure, examination of the surface rust showed sequently the amount of tX-FeOOH gradually increases.
that it consisted of very porous discrete globules and flats However, rust composition also depends on the atmos-
of rust in all carbon steels, as shown in Fig. 3a. Figure 3b phere. After exposure for 4-5 years in the industrial-
shows that at high magnification, some of them may be coastal site, the amount of crystalline atmospheric
seen to have developed into a platelike structure, which corrosion products may be ranked in the order tX-FeOOH,
sometimes contains some sulphur. Similar observations y-FeOOH, and others, but in the coastal site, the amount
were also made by Fyfe et al.17 in Fe-0'03S and Fe- of tX-FeOOH is approximately equal to that of y-FeOOH.
0'07Cu after exposure for 48 weeks. In A588 with low In the windy rural-urban site, the amount of y-FeOOH
phosphorus content, this porous rust structure can be exceeds that of a-FeOOH. In carbon steels, the principal
investigated in some small areas, as shown in Fig. 4. crystalline components of the corrosion products are
However, in windy rural-urban and industrial-coastal y-FeOOH, a-FeOOH, Fe304 and some a-Fe203'
sites, usually no similar rust structure was observed in According to an examination of the cross-section· of the
high phosphorus containing Acr-Ten A exposed for 5 years. rust layer by EPMA,' chromium, copper and sulphur
In the industrial-coastal site, the rust was finer on Acr- became slightly enriched in the inner rust layer of A588,
Ten A (Fig. 5) than that on carbon steels (Fig.3a). The which contained lower phosphorus, after exposure for 3
rust on the latter was also denser, but due to large rust years in the industrial-coastal site. After 8 years, this
particles and easy spallation of large flaky rust, the surface enrichment of chromium became quite apparent. However,
of carbon steels became much rougher than that of in the coastal site, these phenomena were not apparent,
weathering steels, especially after longer exposure. In the while some chloride, calcium and sulphur existed in the
coastal site, similar results were also observed, but more inner rust layer formed on the back face. In Acr- Ten A .
globules of rust developed on the surface. EDAX semi- with high phosphorus content, chromium, sulphur and
quantitative analysis revealed that these contained mainly some silicon were usually observed within the inner rust
iron, some silicon, sulphur, aluminium and a little potas- layer after exposure for 3 years in the three environments.
sium. In the windy rural-urban site, the extremely high After 5 years in the industrial-coastal site, chromium and
density with which cracks formed in the rust on Acr-Ten phosphorus were apparently rich in the inner rust layer
A can be seen in Fig. 6a, out small rust globules containing (Fig. 8). In the coastal site, chromium, chloride, phos-
some sulphur also developed on the surface. Spallation of phorus, and copper were rich In the inner rust layer,
the rust and development of porous rust are easily especially the first two. In the windy rural-urban site, the
observable on the surface of carbon steels (Fig. 6b). In inner rust layer was enriched in chromium and contained
weathering steels, most surfaces were covered with an some phosphorus, sulphur and silicpn.
optically isotropic rust layer which in turn was covered by
an optically active layer after exposure for several years,
as reported by Okada et ai.IS A typical electron beam DISCUSSION
scanning image is shown in Fig. 7a. The inner rust layer is In the present investigations, in the initial stage, y-FeOOH
dense and almost crack free, but the outer layer is was the main corrosion product, but after 3 years,
sometimes discontinuous and loose, especially on the front tX-FeOOH became the predominant one in a relatively dry
a
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a
b
a Acr-Ten A; b SS41
7 Rust layers on front of experimental steels exposed for 4 years
at Tsing-Hua University
I
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